a new experience to him--soft, well modulated,
cultivated, it was of a sort which he had never heard before, and, while
it seemed to him affected, nevertheless thrilled him with an
unacknowledged admiration.

It was she who showed the greatest disappointment about the general
ignorance concerning Layson's whereabouts, and that voice made
instantaneous and irresistible appeal to the older men among the party
of engineers and surveyors, who, finding an excuse in her discomfiture,
flocked about her, hats off, backs bent in humble bows, proffering
assistance, three deep in the circle.

The other lady traveller, whom Miss Alathea called Miss Barbara, more
especially attracted the attention of the younger men, and, as they
stood aloof to gaze at her, held such mountain dwellers as were near,
paralyzed with wonder and admiration. Nothing so brilliantly beautiful
as she in form, carriage, face, coloring or dress had ever been seen
there in the little valley.

She was a florid girl of twenty, or, perhaps, of twenty-one or two. Her
eyes were the obtrusive feature of her face, and she used them with a
freedom which held callow youth spellbound. Her gown was more
pretentious than that of her more elderly companion. This, of course,
was justified by the difference between their ages; but there seemed to
be, beyond this, a flaunting gayety about it and her manner which were
not, in the eyes of the older and wiser men among the group who watched,
justified by anything. It would have been a hard thing for the most
critical of them to have definitely mentioned just what forced this
strong impression on their minds, but it was forced upon them very
quickly. One of them, a cute and keen observer as he was, of many years
experience, decided the moot point, though, and whispered his decision
to a grizzled man (the engineer in charge of the whole enterprise upon
that section of construction) who stood next him.

"The elder one is of the old-time Southern aristocracy," he said. "The
younger one is one of the newcomers--her father has made money and she
is breaking in by means of it."

His companion nodded, realizing that the guess was shrewd and justified,
even if it might, conceivably, be inaccurate.

"She certainly is very striking," he said, nodding, "but the elder one
is the aristocrat."

The other member of the party was a big man, nearing fifty, with a broad
face on which geniality was written in its every line, wearing the
wi